EPPO

Twenty individuals have been convicted to more than 70 years of imprisonment for organising and participating in a criminal association and money laundering, following an investigation by the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Milan and Palermo (Italy). These are the first verdicts in investigation “Moby Dick”, involving a criminal syndicate suspected of a VAT fraud scheme of more than half a billion euros.

As previously reported, investigation “Moby Dick” concerns a criminal syndicate believed to be responsible for a VAT fraud scheme amounting to more than €500 million. Between 2020 and 2023, it issued invoices for the sales of airpods, laptops and other electronic goods of more than €1.3 billion.  

On 23 February 2026, the Preliminary Hearing Judge of the Court of Milan handed down convictions in one of the proceedings. Fifteen defendants, subject to precautionary measures, requested to be tried under the abbreviated procedure, benefiting from a reduction in sentence. Three additional defendants reached plea bargain agreements resulting in prison sentences. The convictions were issued for organising and participating in a criminal association, VAT fraud and money laundering. Two other defendants were already convicted in November 2024 for money laundering.
While these verdicts mark a significant step, other parts of the proceedings remain ongoing.

The judge accepted almost in its entirety the prosecution's reconstruction of the criminal organisation, structured in different operational cells and operating in numerous European and third countries. The syndicate operated through a complex network of domestic and foreign companies – including missing traders, brokers and conduits. 

The judge sentenced the 15 defendants to a total of more than 55 years in prison, in addition to permanent disqualification from public office and a two-year temporary disqualification from engaging in business activities. The three defendants who plea bargained were also sentenced to prison terms.

In line with the new, more restrictive principles recently established by the Court of Cassation on the quantification of profits deriving from criminal conduct, the judge ordered the confiscation of assets worth approximately €30 million, corresponding to the criminal proceeds personally obtained by the convicted defendants.

Meanwhile, the ordinary trial continues before the Court of Milan for two additional defendants indicted following the conclusion of this part of the case. A further hearing is scheduled for March for six other defendants.

The overall proceedings involve more than 400 individuals and legal entities as suspects. Some of those affected by seizure orders have already settled their debts with the tax authorities following the investigation, paying approximately €20 million.

In November 2024, within the framework of the same investigation, the preliminary hearing judge in Milan had already issued a final judgment in simplified proceedings against two leading members of the criminal group for money laundering alone. As the defendants did not appeal, the judgment became final, sentencing them to a total of seven years and eight months of imprisonment and ordering the confiscation of assets worth approximately €10 million, including residential and real estate complexes.

The investigation results from two lines of proceedings conducted by the Italian Financial Police (Guardia di Finanza) of Varese and Milan and from the Italian State Police (Polizia di Stato)- Palermo Mobile Squad and SISCO- together with the Central Operational Service and the Palermo PEF Unit. The two proceedings were subsequently combined, led by the EPPO’s office in Milan and Palermo. 

The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Palermo (Italy) has taken down a criminal organisation involved in agricultural funding fraud in Sicily, alleged to have caused an estimated damage of more than €1.4 million. One suspect was arrested this week and five others were put under coercive measures, while assets were also seized. 

According to the investigation, between 2018 and 2022, the criminal group, active in several provinces of Sicily, established fictitious companies to fraudulently acquire Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) payment entitlements from the National Reserve, worth more than €360 000  – thus misleading Italy’s Agency for Payments in Agriculture (AGEA), responsible for managing and paying agricultural funds. They are suspected of declaring ownership and possession of land that they did not own, and of falsely declaring acquisition of land parcels through usucaption. Based on the evidence, the illegal profits were subsequently transferred to other companies, to conceal their illicit origin, or reinvested, including through participation in public auctions to purchase land.

One suspect was placed under house arrest with electronic bracelet. The judge for preliminary investigations of Messina also ordered another suspect to stay in the municipality of residence and banned four others from holding management positions in companies or requesting EU subsidies or state contributions for one year. Besides these six individuals, 23 other suspects are being investigated for fraud and money laundering. 

In addition, the Carabinieri Agri-food Protection Department of Salerno and Messina (Reparti Carabinieri Tutela Agroalimentare di Salerno e Messina) seized approximately €60 000 in Common Agricultural Policy (CAP) payment entitlements issued by AGEA, two agricultural plots of land in the province of Messina and two apartments in the province of Catania. Bank accounts worth €60 000 were also frozen.

All persons concerned are presumed to be innocent until proven guilty in the competent Italian courts of law. 

At the request of the European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Palermo (Italy), the Italian Financial Police (Guardia di Finanza) of Palermo and Padova seized a large-scale industrial plant for the manufacture of cigarettes, as well as 5.5 tonnes of cigarettes and 16 tonnes of tobacco, in the province of Padova.

The cigarette factory was equipped with all the necessary machinery to operate a high-capacity production line, producing up to €2 million cigarettes per day. The estimated value of the site is over €1 million.

In addition to the tonnes of cigarettes and tobacco, officers found inside the 5000 m² industrial site 14 pallets of precursors, including packaging materials bearing logos of well-known tobacco brands, and seized a truck used for the transport of the goods, too.

Upon entry, three Moldovan nationals were found inside the factory and were reported to the national authorities for the crimes of possession of smuggled processed tobacco and trademark counterfeiting.

The discovery follows several months of investigative work. Through months of surveillance, investigators were able to trace the supply chain and identify the production sites, despite the sophisticated counter-surveillance measures used by the suspects.

Had the seized cigarettes reached the market, the estimated loss in evaded VAT and excise duties would have caused losses of over €1.3 million to the national and EU budgets. The illegal factory was capable of generating an illicit profit of €350 000 per day, exceeding €120 million annually, causing an estimated damage to public finances of approximately €80 million.

All persons concerned are presumed innocent until proven guilty in the competent Italian courts of law.

The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Milan (Italy) has requested to the judge at the Court of Milan a precautionary measure prohibiting a large international consultancy company from contracting with the Region of Lombardy (Regione di Lombardia).

Evidence suggests that the consultancy company was unlawfully awarded at least 15 tenders by the Region of Lombardy – for a total value of approximately €15 million - for services related to the management of funds financed by the European Social Fund (ESF) and the European Regional Development Fund (ERDF). The tenders were awarded and paid from 2018 to 2025.

So far eight individuals, managers and employees of the company, are under investigation for bid rigging and procurement fraud.

The investigation uncovered a suspected fraud scheme linked to the awarding and execution of the contracts, which required the bidder to deploy work teams composed of personnel with specific skills and seniority levels. To meet these requirements, the company allegedly deliberately included senior, high-ranking professionals in the declared teams, despite evidence showing that these individuals either never performed the services or worked only a negligible number of hours. To secure payment, the company then submitted periodic reports to the Region of Lombardy containing only general information falsely representing that all listed team members had fully carried out their assigned activities.

The EPPO has now requested to the judge in Milan a precautionary measure prohibiting the consultancy company from contracting with the Region of Lombardy. Today, the company under investigation has paid €3 million to the Region of Lombardy, as part of a neutral escrow account totalling €6.8 million, equal to the sum of money they had already received for these contracts.

The European Public Prosecutor’s Office (EPPO) in Naples (Italy) has secured convictions against four defendants and plea agreements with another seven suspects, including four public officials, over their participation in a criminal organisation that sold electronics at low prices by systematically evading VAT.

The investigation, carried out with the support of the Italian Financial Police (Guardia di Finanza) of Naples, unveiled a criminal association aimed at committing carousel VAT fraud – a complex criminal scheme that takes advantage of EU rules on cross-border transactions between its Member States, as these are exempt from value added tax.

On 8 January 2026, the Court of Naples convicted four defendants – an accountant and three entrepreneurs – and sentenced them to prison terms of six to ten years, ordering the confiscation of approximately €3 million seized earlier in the investigation to recover the evaded taxes. A member of the Financial Police was acquitted.

In addition, seven more suspects pleaded guilty and signed plea bargain agreements, which were approved by the judge and have become final. Among those who entered plea agreements are three members of the Italian Financial Police, who agreed to a punishment between four and a half years and two years’ imprisonment; and a manager of Italy’s Revenue Agency (Agenzia delle Entrate – Riscossione), who agreed to four years’ imprisonment. They were accused of accepting bribes in order to slow down criminal proceedings and tax audits, avoid the enforced payment of tax debts and illegally obtain information from police and judicial databases.

An accountant and a personal aide, who carried out tasks for the group, have also pleaded guilty and accepted a punishment between four years and five years and four months in prison. Finally, a middleman in the criminal scheme has agreed to a punishment of two years’ imprisonment. 

The Italian Financial Police worked closely with the EPPO in this investigation, leading to the officials’ arrests and diligently tackling the suspected criminal activity within their ranks. 

All persons concerned are presumed to be innocent until a final decision proving them guilty in the competent Italian courts of law.